The marketing world is competitive and the margins are often tight. There are very few organisations large or small that can afford to bleed money due to poor processes.
It is important to streamline the entire marketing process as much as possible so that your marketing projects are not getting mired in endless revisions, stuck in approval stages, delayed by unresponsive stakeholders or landing you in trouble. If your operations aren't compliant or in line with industry legislation, the consequences can be costly but are also avoidable.
The team at admation feel your pain, so we have put together some practical tips to help you gain more efficiencies in your operations. This resource will help you save money, allow you to take on more projects and reduce your stress levels overall. So bookmark this one!
How to limit the volume of revisions in your marketing processes (and save money at the same time)
Revisions can be frustrating, but they are absolutely essential to ensure that every stakeholder is on the same page, that the desired result is achieved and that all compliance is met. It means the client or business gets a result that they love and that the marketing campaign is more likely to be successful. But revisions can be frustrating, time-consuming and a barrier towards true creativity. So what is the solution? Marketing project management software can take plenty of the pain out of revisions.
It is a balancing act between meeting client expectations and letting revision after revision become time-consuming and blowing the budget out of the campaign. You want to be able to deliver the client exactly what they want so shutting the door on input is not the answer, but allowing them to micro-manage the whole process is not going to lead to an ideal outcome for either party. It requires a delicate project.
What marketing project management software does is provide clear boundaries on revisions, while also giving the client enough opportunities and input to ensure they are satisfied. It also provides a central platform where revisions can be made dynamically which eliminates delays and messy email trails that can lead to errors as well.
This platform also provides something more important, clarity on why you are getting so many revisions in the first place. If there is a link in the team that is not delivering to the brief, this is now a problem that can be isolated and fixed. If the briefing process is not delivering enough information or the right information to the team, this can be amended as well.
Overall, you will improve your efficiencies, minimise delays and errors and ultimately save money on each aspect while ensuring your clients have the input required to make these projects successful.
Choose the right software to develop greater efficiencies and get an improved ROI
Let's not beat around the bush here; marketing project management software is going to save you money. Fullstop. According to the Pulse of the Profession 2020 report, digital marketers are bleeding up to 11.4 per cent of their marketing resources because their projects are being managed poorly or inefficiently. Can you afford 11.4 per cent off the top of your profits? We didn't think so.
Your organisational structure is critical for success and this software gives you all of the tools that you need to achieve that. The money you are outlying to purchase this software is more than made up for through better efficiencies and ROI. But simply purchasing this software is not the silver bullet you need to manage your projects better as there are several challenges that need to be met first, including:
• Proper training: A tool is only as effective as the person wielding it, so management needs to ensure that every stakeholder, manager and collaborator is properly trained and qualified to use the software.
• Providing support: Training on its own is not totally effective. You can't teach someone the basics of riding a bike and then ask them to take on the Tour de France, for example. Managers or project champions need to be hands-on with the software and ahead of the curve when it comes to learning so that they can be present and provide support to everyone in the team.
• Countering user resistance: You might understand the merits of your new software, but members of your team may have their reserves. They may be stuck using old methods, they might prefer a different platform. Either way, you need unity for this to be successful. Before rolling out the software ensure you can put together a list of all of the benefits and (more importantly) be ready to counter the resistance. Look up previous tech requests and user complaints and find out what solutions were provided. If you have the resources, create your own user guide that includes both the benefits and the responses to these challenges. It will go a long way towards bringing your team together in appreciation of the software.
• Opt-outs: Some people in your team may decide to not use it at all, sticking to what they know. Make it crystal clear that involvement is mandatory and have management lead by example.
• Measure results: There could be early teething pains and the benefits may take a little time to become visibly obvious. Set KPIs from the get-go and record metrics so that you can show growth as everyone gets a handle on using the software.
The cost of not implementing marketing project management software
We all love a good old whiteboard, chalkboard and/or the traditional paper notepad. After all, the pen is mightier than the sword.
But the digital age has exploded from bytes to gigabytes in a very short amount of time and suddenly digital marketers are dealing with myriad social platforms, forums and question and answer sites like Reddit and Quora. Then there?s professional networking platforms, podcasts, vodcasts and artificial intelligence-driven innovations like chatbots.
Of course, this means more opportunity for the modern digital marketer but it also means that it is simple to become overwhelmed by the sheer scope of platforms and channels and the expectation of producing more and more campaigns to accommodate them. That whiteboard begins to fill up pretty quickly, and suddenly it's crucial to have project management software on hand and ready to go. Rolling out a platform like this also means you can:
Project management software provides a central dashboard where all parts of your operations are visible. It manage projects briefs to ensure they are directed to the right stakeholders and are submitted with all the required information. Checks and balances ensure you are getting all of the information you need. You have full visibility over your team and all stakeholders so that you can rapidly allocate resources to tasks and projects where they are needed. You can give updates to managers and stakeholders immediately without having to chase people up. Marketing approvals become more productive, assets are stored in a central location where they are easy to locate and tasks are sped up immeasurably, even when you are ramping up the volume.
2. Reduce the number of revisions
Email remains one of the most commonly used marketing tools and communication platforms, but it not always the best tool for collaboration and is definitely not the right tool to manage feedback and the approval of marketing content. Long email threads between multiple stakeholders becoming confusing, multiple assets become jumbled, time is lost. There is no need to fire 100 emails and versions of work at each other; project management software provides a place where all stakeholders can simultaneously access assets and communicate and collaborate, making for rapid revisions and an accurate finished product.
3. Decrease errors
By reducing the number of times every part of your marketing campaign is handled, you are limiting the chances of mistakes happening. And because there is a central platform, any errors can be detected and rectified in time.
4. Improve compliance
Marketing project management software organises assets in the correct order to prevent outdated versions being used that can make your project non-compliant. There are also built-in checklists to ensure you are meeting all required levels of compliance.
5. Become a step closer to a paper-free office
We love the notepads, but we need to cut back. For a sustainable future, our offices need to reduce our paper use and this software gives us a golden chance to achieve that.
The world of digital marketing has changed and having creative project management software is not only about giving you the competitive edge over those that are not using it, but also a vital tool in managing the rising and shifting scope of modern-day campaigns.
It gives you complete clarity over the project, enables all stakeholders to have their input and make revisions, it collates all of your assets and keeps them current, ensures all of your projects are compliant and ultimately delivers the perfect campaign to your client in a timely fashion.
You are going to save money, save important time, have a more efficient team and have happier clients while also freeing your arms for more projects across more platforms. Take the dive today and you will wonder how you ever got by without it.
